More than a Marine

More than a Marine

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- At first, Brian Stann
was reluctant to talk about his time in the Marine Corps, but as he
began his mixed martial arts career by pummeling overmatched foes
in the
WEC, it seemed that was all anyone -- from the promotion itself
to the media -- wanted to talk about.

The Pennsylvania native’s story of how his platoon managed to
survive a nearly week-long assault in Karabilah, Iraq, in 2005
without any casualties is the stuff of which true legends are made.
For his leadership and valor in the face of the enemy, Stann was
awarded the Silver Star.

It took some prodding from one of his superiors, but Stann
gradually warmed up to talking about his experience in hopes that
it would serve as an eye-opener to the public that there was more
going on in the Middle East than was shown on TV. Since Stann had
only a burgeoning reputation inside the cage, it was the obvious
angle for any type of promotional campaign involving the Naval
Academy graduate.

During his formative years in MMA, Stann was more of a physical
specimen than an established commodity. He blasted through each of
his first six foes inside of a round, getting by on raw athletic
ability and toughness rather than well-balanced training. Recently,
however, Stann is receiving as much attention for his work inside
the Octagon as out. His technical knockout of Chris Leben
at UFC
125 -- it was just the second time “The Crippler” has been
stopped by strikes in a 32-fight career -- served notice to the
rest of the middleweight class that the former Marine plans on
being a major player in the UFC for a long time.

“I think people in the division certainly respect me a lot more,”
Stann says. “I think they realize that I don’t have just one trick
-- that I can fight in this sport. The most dangerous thing about
me is that I still have so much more to improve on, so I’m only
gonna get much better from where I am here.”

‘Sitting in a Pretty Seat’

Leben was on a roll before he ran into Stann, having knocked off
Aaron
Simpson and Yoshihiro
Akiyama within a two-week span. On Saturday, Stann will face
another opponent riding a wave of momentum when he takes on
Jorge
Santiago in a featured UFC
130 bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Santiago enters the bout having won 11 of his past 12 fights since
leaving the UFC after consecutive losses to Leben and Alan
Belcher in 2006. The former Sengoku Raiden
Championship middleweight titleholder garnered Sherdog.com’s
2010 “Fight of the Year” for his fifth-round technical knockout of
Kazuo
Misaki at SRC 14 and currently sits at No. 7 in the world
rankings at 185 pounds. Santiago’s credentials could very well mean
that Stann will be overlooked, as he was against Leben. However,
his marked improvement since joining Jackson’s
Mixed Martial Arts, coupled with his move to 185 pounds three
fights ago, means betting against the 30-year-old could be a
mistake.

Jorge
Santiago File Photo

Santiago has won 11 of 12.

“Brian might be going into this fight as an
underdog just because of Santiago’s experience, but I believe that
Brian’s been in bigger fights,” says teammate Joey
Villasenor, who defeated Santiago at King of the Cage 58 in
2005. “He fights Chris Leben,
and nobody gave Brian a chance in that fight. We all knew what
Brian could do. Now look where Brian’s at. He’s sitting in a pretty
seat -- looking good. But a lot of it comes from going in the right
weight class.”

Stann began to cut his teeth on the sport at the Marines Corps
Center for Martial Arts Excellence, where he honed his
straight-ahead brawling style with a group of former wrestlers and
an ex-Toughman contestant.

As the victories began to mount, Stann’s success became something
of a joke among his training partners because their cumulative lack
of experience did not seem to portend success in a professional
arena. Whatever they were doing was working.

From January 2006 to March 2008, the longest time Stann spent in
the cage was the 4:57 it took him to finish Craig
Zellner at WEC 28. In preparation for that bout, Stann recalls
asking a karate instructor in Camp Lejeune, N.C., for the use of
his gym. He was granted permission to use the facility’s mats and
heavy bags in the afternoon.

“Brian Stann trained Brian Stann for Craig Zellner,” Stann
recalls.

Less than a year later, he was WEC light heavyweight champion.
Still, it eventually became clear that, as Stann might phrase it,
the ex-Navy linebacker was going to need “more information flow” to
have any hope an extended career.

Moving Down

Steve
Cantwell wrested the light heavyweight title from Stann at WEC
35 right before the promotion dissolved its heavier weight classes
to focus on the lighter divisions. Upon moving to the UFC, Stann
remained a light heavyweight with mixed results, splitting four
bouts, including a victorious rematch with Cantwell.

The quality of Stann’s training increased exponentially upon his
relocation to Albuquerque, but his lopsided unanimous decision
defeat to Phil Davis at
UFC 109 convinced him that a move to middleweight would be best for
his career.

“I think Brian was never a big light heavyweight to start with,”
says striking coach Mike Winkeljohn. “It was a great move, and it
has reinvented Brian.”

That reinvention began at UFC Live 2 in August, when his triangle
choke of Mike
Massenzio earned him “Submission of the Night” honors. It was
the triumph over Leben, however, that showed Stann had an ability
to blend the punching power that was evident early in his career
with newfound technique and composure.

“The new Brian Stann
has his eyes open, and even probably more important than the fact
that he’s able to do power with angles and understanding is that
he’ll stay calm,” Winkeljohn says. “I think he knocked out Leben
three times that night, and he just kept coming. After [Stann] hurt
him the first time to the head, he went to the body. That’s a big
maturity level jump right there -- to be able to go that way.”

Stann sees some advantages in entering MMA at an older age than
most.

“My technique and my skills started to catch up with my
athleticism,” he says. “I came into this sport late but I am a very
good athlete, and it allows me to pick up some of the skills a
little bit faster.”